The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Tamar True Pink.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Impatiens cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1996 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Tahiti, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,601, as the male, or pollen parent, with the Inventor""s proprietary Impatiens hawkeri selection code number 942102, not patented, as the female, or seed parent. The cultivar Tamar True Pink was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Maasland, The Netherlands in 1996.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Maasland, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Tamar True Pinkxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Tamar True Pinkxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Light pink-colored flowers with red purple xe2x80x9ceyexe2x80x9d.
2. Very freely flowering habit with flowers positioned above or beyond the foliage.
3. Upright, somewhat outwardly spreading, rounded, uniform and compact plant habit.
4. Freely branching growth habit.
5. Dark green leaves.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens differ from plants of the male parent, the cultivar Tahiti, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens are more compact than plants of the cultivar Tahiti.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens flower earlier than plants of the cultivar Tahiti.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens are more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Tahiti.